Review: Jawbone Up24

Sub Title: Up All Day

The textured pattern on the Up24 is different than the Up, more akin to waves than diamonds.

The end cap, which covers the jack used for charging, has been improved significantly. On the previous version of the Up it was prone to popping off. But this one is almost difficult to remove with intent, which is perfect.

A button on the end will put the Up24 into sleep mode. It's hard to press by mistake.

WIRED

Finally, Bluetooth. New features that “nudge” you and offer encouragement are welcome additions. Connects with popular fitness apps, and even IFTTT. End cap is much harder to lose. Forgot to switch it into sleep mode? You can adjust your sleep times tomorrow. Comes in two fashionable colors.

TIRED

No on-device display means you’re going to have to phone it in to get your step count. Not waterproof. $150 is a bit steep — competing devices are $20 to $50 cheaper.

There are a few key things a wearable has to get right. It has to be comfortable and good-looking so that you’ll actually wear it. It has to have good software so that you’ll be able to understand the feedback you’re getting from it. And it needs to more or less disappear — it can’t be a pain to sync or charge or you’re going to end up leaving it on a desk or in a drawer. Jawbone’s latest wearable, the Up24, gets all these things right. It’s a big improvement over the previous Up, even if it still could use a few more steps.

Jawbone’s Up was one of the first wearable activity tracking bracelets. It helped define the category, and set expectations. The new Up24 is its first all-new bracelet since the original came out in 2011. It costs $150 and will hit retail shelves next week.

The company understands the aesthetics of wearables better than anyone else, and it excels at making good-looking devices. The Up24, even the Persimmon-colored one (that’s “orange” in English), just looks like a normal fashion accessory. It’s neither flashy nor overly techie looking. The Yves Behar design is wearable with a suit, at the gym, in the office, anywhere. The textured pattern on the Up24 is different than the Up, more akin to waves than diamonds. I wore it running, to the office, and church services, and rarely received any comments, which is as it should be. The few people who did comment on it were already familiar with the previous Up bracelets, or wanted to know if this was the new Fitbit.

It’s mostly well-designed too, beyond mere aesthetics. The end cap, which covers the jack used for charging, has been improved significantly. The end cap on the previous version of the Up was prone to popping off, but this one is almost difficult to remove with intent, which is perfect. A button on the other end sets it in sleep mode, and is similarly hard to press by mistake. Speaking of doing things by mistake, I do wish the band connected at its ends to prevent it from coming off inadvertently when it gets snagged on, say, your jacket or a backpack. For a device that costs $150, it’s pretty easy to lose.

Previous versions made the user connect the bracelet to a phone to sync it. Now, the syncing can happen via Bluetooth.

The major improvement on the Up24, however, is Bluetooth. Previous versions made the user connect the bracelet to a phone to sync it. Now, the syncing can happen via Bluetooth. This is a wonderful improvement. It means it can trickle updates to your phone throughout the day, or sync on demand without you ever having to remove the bracelet. While that’s great for ease of use, it also gives the device the ability to learn about your activities and send you feedback throughout the day. You can see your step count grow as you amble about town, and you can get reminders to move your ass without ever taking the bracelet off to sync. And while I was worried this always-on syncing feature would put added stress on my phone’s battery life, there was no noticeable extra drain.

The updated software is fantastic in most regards. It gives you insights into your movement and sleep automatically, and gives you options to track your food and water intake. It’s extensible too. You can connect a slew of third-party apps — Strava, RunKeeper, MyFitnessPal, MapMyFitness, Withings, and many more. Even IFTTT. One area that’s greatly improved in the new version is sleep tracking. Previously, if you forgot to push the button and set the bracelet in sleep mode (and I always did) you had to manually go back and establish your sleep times. Now, the Up24 senses that maybe you forgot to switch modes, and suggests times you may have been sleeping. It means you can track your Zs with just a tap or two. I found the sleep-sensing stuff to be pretty on the money in terms of accuracy, too.

You can see the Bluetooth syncing happening via the progress bar at the top of the screen. A sync takes about five seconds.The new software also help you set goals and stick to them. There’s a new feature called “Today I Will” that sets short-term goals for you by challenging you to hit some daily mark, like a certain number of steps or sleep-hours. Since the band now has the ability to constantly track you, it can generate these goals on the fly during the day. Once you amass a few days’ worth of data, the new Up app starts awarding you “Streaks,” pointing out to you that you’ve hit your movement or sleep goals, and encouraging you to keep your numbers up.

Along with my testing, Gadget Lab editor Michael Calore has also been wearing an Up24 for the past five days. He’s seen a few of these new awards. Mike set his movement goal at 10,000 steps per day, but then hit only 8,416 on Saturday and 3,637 on Sunday. On Monday morning, he was served a “Today I Will” card in the app challenging him to walk at least 6,526 steps (he missed that goal, too). Mike had better luck with sleep. He set his nightly sleep goal at 7 hours on Friday, and then hit it three nights in a row, averaging over 8 hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. On Monday morning, the Up app congratulated him on his three-day Streak.

Although you can also connect with other people and see their progress in your home screen, I only know about Mike’s data because I asked him in person. Truthfully, I find the “follow a friend” features a little annoying. Who cares what other people are doing? I just want to see my stuff, and other people’s activities take up a lot of space in the app. Fortunately, you don’t have to have friends. (Sorry, Mike.)

One question we both had with this band: why doesn’t it have a real on-device display? There’s just a status light to indicate whether or not it’s in sleep mode. Sure, Bluetooth lets it send updates to your phone, but you don’t always want to have to pull something out of your pocket. Even if it didn’t have a numerical display, some sort of feedback that tells you where you are on steps for the day would be nice.

The new Up24 is a solid, beautiful device. Everything it does, it does well. Yet given Jawbone’s history in the market, I’d hoped its next product would be yet another cutting-edge category leader. While wonderfully useful, this band feels like its playing catch-up.

Photos by Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

When you buy something using the retail links in our product reviews, we earn a small affiliate commission. Read more about how this works.